THANKS for highlighting the work we are doing trying to find solutions to the parking problems residents experience on Queensway in Broadwell. We have been working for a long time to respond to requests from the local community.

Two Rivers Housing Association communities are not alone in facing parking problems. This is one of the top issues communities face up and down the country as the streetscapes of the 20th century creak to accommodate the multiple car ownership aspirations of the 21st century.

With over 3,800 tenants scattered in the towns and villages across the Forest and beyond, we have a number of communities keen for us to deliver a scheme just like the Queensway proposal for their locality.

Your article highlighted some views expressed to the Review by some of the residents about the Queensway scheme. These fears are entirely unfounded.

Firstly, some people fear the parking bollards will impede emergency vehicles. At the moment the same area of grass is covered with unreregulated parking, which generates health and safety risks. The proposals seek to solve this problem by providing controlled and safe parking. The plans have been approved by the district council and the highways authority and the emergency services have raised no objections.

Secondly, to address the view that the scheme is "just a money making" exercise. Two Rivers is a not-for-profit community organisation. All the cash that comes in goes straight back into providing maintenance and services for our tenants.

The gap between house prices and income in the Forest means many local people find it hard to live and work in the place they have grown up and love. Two Rivers is here to help bridge that gap, providing homes for rent and for sale at prices people can afford. We can only do this because we are not for profit.

We have ambitious plans to develop over 300 new homes in the area in the next few years, and we have teams in villages and towns across the Forest building dozens of new low-cost homes for rent right now. We borrow the money cheaply, because we are a not-for-profit organisation, we build the houses, then the low cost rents pay for the maintenance and pay back the loans. It's a virtuous circle for local communities.

Developing, maintaining and regulating parking isn't free. These new parking spaces would cost £27,000, and that's before the maintenance and regulation. It is only fair that those who use these spaces pay the on-going costs. Everyone else will benefit because it will take pressure off parking in the street, stop the chaotic use of the current verge, and improve safety.

– Jon Coe, Customer services director, Two Rivers Housing.